


And at last I see the light

by radbanette



Category: Princess Tutu
Genre: Alternate Universe - Tangled (2010) Fusion, F/M, Gen, i can't think of any tags rn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-28
Updated: 2019-06-19
Packaged: 2019-07-18 13:08:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16119116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/radbanette/pseuds/radbanette
Summary: When thief Fakir stumbles across the cheerful Ahiru living in a tower in a secluded meadow, the last thing he expects is that she demands he take her to see the yearly Festival of the Lights. But he's about to find out that many things aren't what he expects them to be.





	1. Chapter 1

Every year in Gold Crown Town, on one specific night, thousands of lanterns are released into the night sky, shining brightly against the darkness. Everyone in Gold Crown Town knows their purpose: to locate the lost princess. But deep in the woods, within a hidden clearing, stood a tower that held a young girl who did not know this. Quite truthfully, the girl, Ahiru, discovered them by accident. She had been five years old at the time, and had woken up to go to the bathroom. But as she had passed the window that served as their front door, the one portal to the outside world, she realized that it had been left open, and that floating lights were flying up into the sky. Ahiru sat at the window, mesmerized, watching until every single light had disappeared up into the stars. There was something about the lanterns- the way they floated lightly in the breeze, higher and higher into the sky until they seemed to be stars- that ingrained itself in Ahiru's mind. No matter what she did, she couldn't stop thinking about them. Every single year without fail, she would sit at the window, watching those lights, wondering what they meant.  
Before, she couldn’t go see them because she was too frail to go into the outside world. That was what her father had always told her: she had been born a sickly child and when she contracted a deadly disease at only a few months old, her father stole the cure and then retreated from society to ensure her health. Since that time, he returned to the world outside, only coming back to bring Ahiru supplies and to talk about the books he was thinking about writing. Ahiru, however, was still not allowed to leave. But now that she was eighteen, less clumsy than she had been as a child, and more hearty, perhaps that would change.  
“This is going to be our year, Tutu!” Ahiru exclaimed to small white bird that was her only friend in her tower. “I’m sure Father will let me go see the lights!”  
Tutu chirped, indignant. It sounded as if she didn’t believe that.  
“Oh, have a little faith,” Ahiru said happily, throwing open the shutters to the one window. “Father only wants what’s best for me.”  
Almost as if he had been summoned, Ahiru’s father called from down below, “Ahiru, send down the rope!”  
She always hated this part, but as Father always said, sometimes you have to bear unpleasant circumstances. She pulled a long rope out of a little compartment by the window, winding one end around a hook in the windowsill and throwing the other end down to her father. Because he was carrying a bag of supplies for her, he couldn’t pull himself up the rope, so it was up to Ahiru to pull him all the way up the tower. The strength she had built up from this practice was one reason why she thought herself ready to go into the outside world, even if for one day.  
When Ahiru’s father stepped into the tower, he patted Ahiru’s head absentmindedly before putting the supplies away on the kitchen table. He sunk into his red velvet chair with a sigh. “I simply cannot figure out what the plot twist of this next story is going to be!” he stated. “I’ve done it all before! Nothing is original for me anymore!” He finally caught sight of Ahiru. “Duckling, come here and let me rebraid your hair. It’s gotten to be such a mess. While I’m braiding, tell me what story you’ve read recently.”  
Ahiru did as she was told, sitting down on the low stool painted with ducklings that sat in front of their Father’s favorite chair. While Drosselmeyer started untangling her hair to rebraid it, Ahiru began reciting, “Before there was light in the world, there was the first storyteller. This storyteller had always longed to see a sky of color, but had grown old and frail. One day, the storyteller grew ill and died in a meadow. The villagepeople buried the storyteller in the same place they had died, to honor where the storyteller had chosen to die. The sky wept at the loss of the storyteller, and the rain made two flowers grow: one where the storyteller’s head was, and one where the storyteller’s hand was.  
The storyteller’s apprentice noticed these flowers, and decided to see what the flowers would do. He plucked the flower where the storyteller’s head was, and cooked it in a soup. The flower gave him the ability to see the strings of fate, and when he realized this, he desired the power of the second flower as well. But he feared that he could not contain the power of both of the flowers, and resigned himself to hiding the flower so that none could take the power that he could not have.  
Many years past, and the impenetrable clouds faded, giving birth to a new world of light and hope. The storyteller’s apprentice kept the flower hidden, but he should have known that such power could not be concealed forever.”  
Drosselmeyer frowned, Ahiru’s braid half-finished, like the story. “That was the first story I wrote.”  
“You gave me a copy for my fifth birthday,” Ahiru stated. “It’s a favorite of mine.”  
“I don’t see how that’s supposed to help me,” he muttered, tightening Ahiru’s braid. “You’re supposed to be my Muse, Duckling. Use your gift.”  
Drosselmeyer often talked about such a ‘gift’ but never specified what it was. Ahiru assumed it was imagination. “Once, there was a girl who loved to dance,” she began. “She fell in love with a prince with sad eyes and no heart, and wanted to help him, so she-”  
“That’s it!” Drosselmeyer finished Ahiru’s braid and jumped up. “The prince must shatter his heart and use the shards to keep the raven at bay! Genius!” He kissed Ahiru on the top of the head and hurried to the window. “I must return to my study immediately to write this down!”  
“Wait!” Ahiru called. “You won’t be returning for another week, will you?”  
Drosselmeyer turned to face Ahiru, his amber eyes unrepentant. “I’m a busy man, Ahiru. I work hard so that we both can live well.”  
“My birthday is tomorrow,” Ahiru blurted out.  
Drosselmeyer moved forward and placed a bony hand on Ahiru’s shoulder. “Ahiru, sweetheart, your birthday was last year.”  
She gave an awkward laugh. “Father, we’ve had this discussion before. Birthdays are a yearly thing.”  
“Oh, that’s right!” he said with a laugh. “My mistake!” He patted her shoulder, then moved back to the window. “I’ll make sure to stop by on your birthday and bring a cake and present, alright?”  
“I don’t want a present,” she began. “At least, not a normal present, though I guess one would be nice, but I was thinking-”  
“Ahiru, get to the point,” Drosselmeyer stated.  
She took a breath and said as quickly as she could, “I want to go see the lights up close.”  
His eyes were unreadable. “You want to go out into the real world.” It wasn’t a question.  
“Only for the day,” she said hurriedly. “I just want to see the lanterns at least once in my life.”  
Drosselmeyer walked slowly around the seating area, hands clasped behind his back. “Ahiru, I’ve told you what happened to your mother, didn’t I? She died in childbirth, and I almost lost you too. Since you were born, you were my Light, my Muse, my Duckling.” He shook his head. “Then, only three months after I lost my dear wife, the doctor told me that I would lose my daughter too. I stole an expensive cure to keep you alive, Ahiru. All I ask is that you stay in this tower, where you won’t get sick again, and where I don’t have to worry about losing you. I can’t lose you too, Ahiru. I’ve already lost too much.”  
“But I’m not sickly anymore!” Ahiru argued. “I’m stronger, I’m not as clumsy, I’m capable!”  
“I don’t care!” Drosselmeyer threw his hand out, whipping his cape behind him. “There are terrors in the world that you don’t know about, and all of them could steal you from me! I can’t allow that to happen! You are never leaving this tower!” At the end, he was shouting.  
Ahiru stood there silently. She wasn’t sure what she had been expecting, but it wasn’t this.  
He shook his head. “You’ll understand someday,” he promised, moving back towards the window. “I’ll be sure to get you a good present, Ahiru.”  
“What about the silk fabric you got me when I turned thirteen?” she asked quickly. “It made a pretty dress.”  
“The village where that’s sold is a day’s ride away,” Drosselmeyer stated, tone unhappy.  
“Isn’t it better than the lights?”  
He considered that for a few minutes. “I won’t be able to leave today, so I won’t be here on your birthday,” he warned.  
“I’ll be okay,” she promised. “We’ll just celebrate it when you get back.”  
Drosselmeyer seemed only slightly unsatisfied with this outcome. “I’d do anything to keep you safe. Consider it done, Duckling. I’ll return in two days with cake and present.”  
Ahiru walked with her father to the window. “Safe travels!”  
He only nodded in response, beginning his descent down the rope. Only when he was halfway down did he call out, “I love you, Ahiru! Stay safe!”  
“I love you too, Father! And I will!”  
Soon enough, Drosselmeyer was out of sight, headed back towards the cottage Ahiru knew he had in the nearby village. Once he was gone, Tutu flitted back down from the rafter she had hid above. “I don’t know why you hate Father, Tutu,” Ahiru said, moving away from the window. “He’s trying his best.”  
Tutu chirped at that, obviously unbelieving. She chirped for a few minutes, as if ranting about Drosselmeyer.  
“I’m going to see those lights tomorrow, Tutu. Father isn’t going to be back until the next day, so I’ll have plenty of time, and all I need to do is figure out how I’m going to get there.”

In the capital city of the kingdom, at the same time, a young man stood on the roof of the castle, waiting for his accomplice to finish opening the skylight. He stared out at the scenery before him, amazed, but not enthralled. Big harbor cities weren’t really his thing, but it was a nice view.  
“You know, it’d be nice if you could help me, Lohengrin,” his accomplice, a dark-haired girl named Rue, snapped. “I find it unfair that I have to open the skylight and pull you up.”  
“I’m the expendable one,” he reminded her. “I’m going down so you don’t get caught and your dad doesn’t have to break you out of jail again. But fine, I’ll help.” He helped her pry open the barely-used skylight, wincing a little at the light creak, and set up the pully system that was going to help Rue pull him up.  
“The crown is lightly guarded today,” Rue whispered to Lohengrin, in case the guards could hear them. “We made a good choice.”  
“Let’s get this over with,” Lohengrin said, double-checking the sturdiness of the knotted rope before letting himself down into the room.  
It seemed wasteful—a huge room with gold-veined floors and elaborate wallpaper and shining windows and expensive paintings, and all it held was the crown of the lost princess: a gold crown inlaid with rubies accented by pearls. The room was far too extravagant for such a simple role, and the crown was far too fancy for whoever it had been made for. The princess had only just been born when the crown had been commissioned, and she had disappeared by the time it was finished.  
He tugged on the rope to tell Rue that he had the crown and he was slowly pulled up, the pulleys making a tiny ticking sound that got slowly louder as he was pulled up. By the time he was almost to the skylight, the guards had noticed the noise. One had the sense to look up and saw Lohengrin with the crown still in hands and shouted, “Intruder! He stole the princess’ crown!”  
Rue reached through the skylight and pulled Lohengrin through, pulling him along the roof before he could even get the rope off. “We need to go now!” she shouted. “The guards will be mobilized in a minute, and they can easily outrun us. We need to get into the forest, quick! We may lose them there.”  
Lohengrin tugged off the rope and put the crown away in his satchel, planning the quickest route through Gold Crown Town. “Let’s go,” he said, jumping off the roof of the castle onto the roof of the nearest house.  
The two took off across the roofs, catching attention from people below, but no guards were yet coming after them. It wasn’t until they jumped down and began crossing the bridge into the forest that they heard a large group of guards coming after them on horseback.  
“Follow me!” Lohengrin said, running off the main path and into the forest proper. He led Rue through the trees, until they reached a dead-end, with the guards gaining ground on them. “Lift me up and I’ll pull you up,” he said. “Hurry, we don’t have much time!”  
Rue didn’t question him, and gave him a boost so that he could reach the top. “Now pull me up!”  
“They don’t know you helped me steal the crown,” he stated. “Pretend to be a lost woman and get back to camp yourself.” He disappeared into the forest with the satchel, certain that Rue would be able to throw them off.  
“He went that way!”  
Lohengrin could think of several strong words to say then, but he bit them all back as he broke into a run, trying to find a not-obvious place to hide. A slab of rock with ivy covering it caught his attention and he hurried to it, sighing with relief when he realized that his suspicions were right and it was a secret passageway. He ran through without a second thought, finding himself in a clearing with a beautiful meadow and a huge tower in the center. There were no doors, only a window that, oddly enough, had a rope dangling from it.  
Figuring he needed a place to lay low for a while, Lohengrin climbed up the side of the tower, pulling the rope up behind him once he was inside, and closing the shutters to the window. He crouched down to open the satchel and check that the crown was alright when he noticed that there was a red poker aimed at his throat.  
“Who are you and what are you doing here?” a voice said, intending on sounding intimidating no doubt, but not managing it behind the wobbling voice.  
“I don’t mean you any harm,” Lohengrin said lowly. “I just need to hide here for a few hours.”  
“No one’s allowed up here!”  
“I won’t be any trouble. I’ll be gone before you realize it.” He pulled the crown out of his satchel and sighed with relief that it was intact. He put it back in the bag and finally looked up at whoever was threatening him with the poker. It was a short girl with braided pinkish hair that fell to her lower back. She wore a simple pink cotton dress, and had freckles all across her face and striking blue eyes.  
“You’re a thief!” she stated, still staring at the satchel.  
“I’ll be out of your hair soon,” he stated, close to losing his temper. “I need to wait until the guards are gone.”  
“I’ll get the guards,” she said, voice wobbling. “I-I’ll get them, and they’ll arrest you! Unless-”  
“Unless what?” Lohengrin asked. He doubted that she would actually do it, but he didn’t want to risk it if her request was small.  
She took a deep breath. “I want to go see the lights and my birthday is tomorrow and it’s been my dream my whole life but I can’t find my way myself so I need someone to take me there so if you take me to see the lights and get me back safely then I won’t tell anyone you stole that crown.”  
Lohengrin caught most of that. “They already know that I stole the crown,” he stated. “They saw my face.”  
“My father leaves a lot of his old things here for safekeeping,” she said, dropping the poker a little. Her face gained a brightness that seemed natural. “If you wear different clothes and maybe wear your hair differently, you might be able to avoid notice. And if you agree to take me to the lights, then I’ll let you keep the clothes!”  
Lohengrin raised an eyebrow at her. “And how will your Father feel about you disappearing with a thief and giving the thief his old clothes?”  
She hesitated. “He wouldn’t mind. Do we have a deal?”  
He considered his options. If he didn’t arrive with the crown, Raven would have his head. Although, there was already a good chance Raven would have his head for leaving Rue behind, so maybe he shouldn’t worry about Raven. Surely he’d be able to find someone willing to buy the crown, and then his dreams could come true. But first, he had to escape the guards. And some fresh clothes and a wide-eyed girl with him would only serve to make him look more innocent. “Fine,” he sighed. “I’ll take you to go see the lights. But only if you help me evade the guards. And that means new clothes and making up a story on how I couldn’t have stolen anything because we were having tea or something when it happened.”  
She dropped the poker entirely and smiled. “Great! My name’s Ahiru! What’s yours?”  
“Call me Lohengrin,” he said shortly. “Now let’s get moving. Pack a bag and show me where your dad’s old clothes are.”


	2. Chapter 2

Lohengrin shuffled uncomfortably, tugging on one of the sleeves of his new ensemble. They were probably once fine clothes and somewhere they may have come back into fashion, but Fakir hated them. The sleeves were itchy, nothing matched, and it was all so garish. What type of loon wore a magenta cloak? He was beginning to question whether this was a good idea or not. But he had to admit, that with the new (to him) clothes and with his hair freshly washed and pulled back, he didn't really look the same.  
Ahiru laughed. "You look like an eccentric lord!"  
He raised an eyebrow at her curiously. "Really?"  
"In a good way of course, I didn't mean that negatively; honestly, you look like a character from a book my father wrote and its a very good book and a very good character and I think those clothes suit you please don't be mad at me!"  
Lohengrin shook his head in mild frustration. "You're not going to last out there."  
"That's what my Father always says," she said with a laugh, rubbing her arm. "But I have to try, don't I?"  
He was silent for a minute. "If you're this nervous around only one person, I can only imagine that you're going to be worse in a large crowd like there always is during the Festival of the Lights. Let's stop by a tavern so that you have a bit more practice being around people before we head to the city."  
"Oh, okay," Ahiru said. Her eyebrows scrunched comically as she frowned at him. "Wait a minute, you're not going to try to lose me, are you? Because I'm not letting that happen! You're going to guide me to the lights!"  
"Wouldn't dream of it," he said flatly. "Now can we please get a move on?"  
"Tutu!" Ahiru called. "Are you coming?"  
The little bird tweeted, flying down to land on Ahiru's shoulder. She regarded Lohengrin carefully before deciding that she liked him. She flew herself to the top of his head, where she nestled down and took a nap.  
"I'm not even going to ask," he stated. "I'm gonna go ahead and go down the rope. You follow whenever you want to. I'll be waiting on the ground." He stepped up onto the windowsill, using the rope to help him leverage his way down the side of the tower. Within seconds, he was out of sight.  
Ahiru stood in the center of her tower, painfully aware that she didn't have to leave if she didn't want to. She could just yell down to Lohengrin that the deal was off, she hoped he liked his new clothes, and she wished him all the best. But she knew she couldn't do that. It had taken someone eighteen years to find Ahiru's tower. She couldn't wait another eighteen. So she took a second to take a breath before she pulled on her gloves and walked towards the window. She held onto the rope as she peered down at the ground far below. Lohengrin and Tutu had just reached the ground. He looked up at her and shouted, "Ready to leave when you are!"  
"I can do this," Ahiru said quietly. "I can do this. I can do this!" She stepped off the windowsill and began to slide down the rope. The feeling of the wind in her hair as she fell was quickly overshadowed by the burning in her hands. She had thought that her gloves would protect her hands, but apparently, it had not been enough. She held on as best as she could, but she got the feeling that the rope was burning straight through her gloves. Sure enough, when she had nearly reached the bottom, her palms felt like they were coated in fire. She yelped and, on instinct, let go of the rope. Ahiru was certain that she would plummet to her death, when her fall was stopped suddenly, and not in a splattering-on-the-ground way. She moved her hands from her face to see that Lohengrin had caught her.  
"You should think more," he stated as he helped her to the ground. "You could have burned off your hands that way." He investigated her palms quickly. "You'll be fine, but your gloves are ruined."  
But Ahiru wasn't listening to him. She was staring at the grounds under her feet. "The grass is... sharp," she said.  
"Yeah."  
"Everything looks so different down here," Ahiru said, turning around to marvel at everything around her. "But it's so much better!" She laughed, running over to a small pond nearby to investigate. "I can't believe I actually did this! Thank you, Lohengrin!"  
He repressed a smile. "If you want to make it to the city in time for the Festival of the Lights, we need to get a move on."  
"Right, right, of course." She ran over to his side, following as he led the way out of the clearing that the tower was hidden in. "Soooo, how far away is this tavern?"  
"Five miles. It's a little out of the way from Gold Crown Town, but it'll be alright. If we don't waste too much time there, it should be fine."  
"Have you ever seen the Festival of the Lights?" Ahiru asked. "Is it better in-person?"  
"I've never really cared about it," he answered. "It seemed counter-productive, to me. You know what it's about, right?"  
"No, I don't. Father didn't like to talk about it."  
Lohengrin adjusted his cloak so he wouldn't keep stepping on it. "The lanterns are supposed to be a way for the lost princess to find her way back home."  
"Lost princess?" Ahiru asked. "That sounds like something from one of Father's stories!"  
"Your father is a writer? Actually, I suppose that would explain the eccentricity of his clothes."  
"My father is Drosselmeyer," Ahiru said proudly. "He's a famous writer. Have you heard of him?"  
Lohengrin frowned. "Yeah, I have. His books are alright."  
"What do you mean, 'alright'? They're far better than 'alright'!"  
"They're well-planned for sure," he admitted. "Meticulous, almost. By far the best structured books that are being sold in current days, maybe even in all time. But they have no soul. There's no emotion to it, no love for the craft. It just rings hollow, most of the time."  
Ahiru pouted, but didn't say anything.  
Silence fell between them for a few minutes. Lohengrin watched out of the corner of his eye as Ahiru marveled at nearly everything they passed, yet she refused to leave his side, for some reason. "You know," Lohengrin said, breaking the silence, "I did like one of your father's stories. I just remembered. Have you ever heard of The Storyteller's Flower?"  
"That's one of my favorites!" Ahiru exclaimed. "You know, Father swears it's real. The Storyteller's Flower, that is."  
"A flower that can grant someone a mysterious power because the sun cried when a storyteller died?" Lohengrin snorted. "Yeah, okay."  
"You know, it wouldn't break your 'lonely and tortured' persona to believe in something, Lohengrin," Ahiru stated.  
"I believe," Lohengrin started, "that we should focus on getting you to see the lights."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is... short and late, but you know what? I came back. Will I finish this? Hopefully, because I like this story. Will I promise that I will? No, because the last time I promised something, I ended up being late by about four months. I certainly hope that I can keep up an updating schedule for this, though. I'm going to shoot for next month. Fingers crossed, ya'll

**Author's Note:**

> i wrote like 2/3 of this in a rush for Fakiru Week so i may come back later and fix any errors. idk what my updating schedule will be (either once every two weeks or once a month depending on how college is going) but if you wanna talk about the fic, feel free to message me on my tumblr, radbanette.tumblr.com  
> Edit: I changed Fakir's name to Lohengrin because I wanted to keep the whole "telling of the real name" thing in Tangled. Lohengrin is a fan-concept of the original knight from the Prince and the Raven story. I'm not tagging him though, because it's just a name Fakir uses for himself.


End file.
